What is Digital Dog?

Digital dog is a research group within the Black Dog Institute working to use technology to solve common mental health problems. The Digital Dog team develop and test a suite of online mobile apps, websites and games to help lower depression, lower suicide risk, reduce stress and promote wellbeing.

What is Digital Dog?

Digital dog is a research group within the Black Dog Institute working to use technology to solve common mental health problems. The Digital Dog team develop and test a suite of online mobile apps, websites and games to help lower depression, lower suicide risk, reduce stress and promote wellbeing.

By undertaking extensive mental health research using everyday technology, the Digital Dog team aim to test and offer easy-to-understand mental health tools that you can access through your mobile phone, tablet or computer.

The use of e-mental health programs aim to complement traditional face-to-face mental health services, such as visiting a doctor or counsellor.

e-Mental health is particularly for those who:

don’t usually seek help

are concerned about talking to someone about your health issue

cannot meet with a doctor or mental health professional regularly

adolescents

indigenous youth

people affected by isolation.

Digital Dog has 5 main areas:

Interventions to lower depression, lower suicide risk and promote wellbeing. The group builds and tests web and mobile phone applications for mental health.

Social media (twitter, blogs) as an indicator of mental health risk. Researchers are interested in establishing the validity of social media as an indicator of health risk.

Mobile phones as pervasive devices to measure mental health. The aim here is to use the interconnectivity and sensors on a mobile phone to measure mental health, and online and offline connectivity to other mobile phones and people.

Harnessing technology to prevent mental health problems in schools. The school is an ideal environment to deliver prevention programs at appropriate transitions. This program aims to deliver prevention programs through games, apps and websites, and to bring together information from social media, self report, genetics and pervasive devices to develop a rich data set for the future.

Public documents to promote the usefulness and cost effectiveness of e-health technologies for Australia.